Giant Snake Bites 70-Year-Old Man

Six-and-a-half foot long snake bites elderly man in moshav west of Jerusalem, medics transfer him to hospital.

Ari Yashar, 26/05/14 14:11

Giant snake (illustration)

Flash 90

As the warm summery weather continues to advance, snakes have apparently become more active as evidenced in yet another snake bite victim reported on Monday. This time the perpetrator was a massive two-meter (roughly six-and-a-half feet) long snake.

A man in his 70s was bitten by the snake in the yard of his home, located on Harimon Street in Givat Yearim, a moshav to the west of Jerusalem, reports Hebrew-language site 0404 News.

Neighbors were able to capture the snake, and noted the extraordinary size of the animal. Residents of the town related that there had been several sightings of snakes moving about local yards, and even inside the houses themselves.

United Hatzalah volunteer medics who arrived on the site gave the man first aid, and then transferred him to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem while he was fully conscious. It remains unclear whether the snake was poisonous.

The encounter with the giant snake comes after last Tuesday a poisonous viper snake was found in an upscale north Tel Aviv kindergarten playground, slithering near to where the children were playing. Eventually a trapper was able to capture the snake before it caused any harm.

A similar case occurred earlier in the month, when a 10-year-old boy from Kibbutz Givat Haim Meuhad, located near Hadera on the coast, was bit by a poisonous viper snake. The boy was brought to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera, where he was given an antidote and saved from danger.

The director of the hospital's children's department, Dr. Adi Klein, noted that snakes are leaving their burrows after the winter with the changing of the seasons. Symptoms typical of the first bites of the season include great swelling, stomach pains, a drop in blood pressure, as well as loss of balance. The symptoms develop faster due to the quantity and concentration of the venom which has accumulated over the winter.

"It should be noted that not everyone who is bitten requires an antidote," added Klein. "But even if particularly serious symptoms do not appear, one should be checked at the hospital to determine treatment. It isn't necessary to bring the snake to the emergency room - most bites are from vipers, and the treatment is administered accordingly."